Wednesday, October 31, 2007

TV Inspired, TiVo Enabled

Busy times call for lack of painting. The couple of months have been crazy, and last week I decided that in order to keep my ability to ever paint again, I have to keep exercise my eye, hand and brush, just so to not lose it altogether. WackieM's blog keeps me going, big time. I try to find the time to follow the drawing and painting challenges she comes up with, and they then yield new fun ideas, opening new doors and setting me off on new journeys. Very short journeys, for now, but one day...

Recently, I found that I can no longer sit still and watch TV. Whenever a great face, a compelling expression or a wonderful light pattern appears on the screen, I grab whatever I have in hand, and start drawing/sketching it. Just can't resist the urge. Poor The JohnnyB, he is getting used to coming home and then gaze for an hour at a frozen picture on the screen. So, to be fair to him, I do try to do it mostly during the day, in between the trillion things that need to be done. 10 minutes here, and hour there - and I actually manage to produce some art. On a small scale, not at the quality of an actual painting done when you have the time and mental bandwidth to really do it, but - it helps to get the stress away.

Well, most of the time...

Yesterday I was trying to use the Elegant Writer pen, that has ink that gorgeously separates when you touch a wet brush to it. At least when WackieM touches it. I took my highest quality sketchbook, took one of these pens, and did a loose drawing, intending to dissolve some of the lines. I then took a brush, wetted it, touched the drawing, and waited for the magic to happen.

Nothin'.

"Must be the color. I'll try the black, which is more responsive", I heartened myself.

I called WackieM with wrath, and made an S.O.S. plea. She was surprised, and advised me to try it on different papers. Nothing worked, until I remembered a Bristol Smooth Surface drawing block that I once bought at the art store, not quite sure why.

I decided to give it one more try...

(click to enlarge)

...and then proceeded to a couple of hours of pure fun. I love it!!!

These are done from paused scenes of the British movie "Enchanted April", which offered a wealth of great faces and expressions. And no, the one in the middle is not a broken-nosed female wrestler. I just did not have the time to go back and fix it...

The actor playing Van Gogh was very convincing (two ears, though...), and one scene had the most irresistible light pattern, which yielded a very long TiVo pause, and four bozzettos. I took the artistic license to not show the fourth one, which turned out pathetic! (Hey, it's my blog - I can cheat...).

The JohnnyB claims the color scheme I chose is weird and haunting. Duh! color is one way to convey mood. "weird and haunting", Eh? Well, so was Van Gogh.